Discovery
Get into the detail of the problem. Map the systems, the constraints and the people involved. Decide what's worth building — and what isn't.
Services
What we do, said plainly.
Four threads of work, one approach: pragmatic engineering that ships and earns its keep. Pick the entry point that fits your situation — most engagements pull from more than one.
01
Custom software.
Bespoke systems that fit how your business actually runs — not the way an off-the-shelf product wishes it did. The right answer when configuration runs out of road, or when the seams between tools are where the real work hides.
- Internal tools and back-office systems that replace spreadsheets and email chains
- Customer-facing applications, portals and workflows
- Replatforming and modernising legacy systems without breaking what works
- Data modelling, schema design and migrations — the part that pays back for years
- Cloud-native architecture — typically serverless, kept lean and cheap to run
02
Automation & integration.
Connect the tools you already pay for. Cut manual work. Eliminate errors. Drive down costs. Most businesses are already running half the systems they need — they just don't talk to each other yet.
- Stitching together CRMs, eCommerce platforms, finance systems and bespoke back-ends
- Replacing manual rekeying, copy-paste workflows and spreadsheet chains
- Event-driven pipelines and serverless integrations that scale with the business
- Identity & access done properly — OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SSO into the tools you already use
- Lightweight, observable, and cheap to operate
For Frazier's Wine Merchants, this approach reduced eCommerce order processing time by 90%.
03
AI & machine learning.
Practical AI you can put to work. We embed it into real workflows where it earns its place — not as a feature for the brochure, and not as a magic wand.
- LLM-powered features inside existing products and internal tools
- Document understanding, classification and extraction from messy real-world inputs
- Retrieval-augmented systems grounded in your own data
- Honest scoping — including the cases where AI is the wrong answer
We designed and built the original Spencer platform — a web-based assessment tool for schools and SEND professionals, turning behavioural observations into structured support strategies.
04
End-to-end product development.
For founders who need a partner — not a vendor against a spec. We've taken products from zero to shipped for clients, for startup partners, and for our own ventures (Cloak being the current example). The same craft, applied to the problem in front of us.
- Discovery — turning a fuzzy idea into a buildable plan
- Build — small, senior team, shipping in short cycles
- Launch — getting it in users' hands and learning fast
- Beyond — staying close as the product finds its shape
How we work
Three phases, one team.
Whether it's a back-office automation or a product going to market, the shape of the work is similar — and the team stays small and senior the whole way through.
Build
Ship in short cycles. Production-quality code from day one, no scaffolding to throw away. Hands on the work, not slides about the work.
Launch & beyond
Get it in real users' hands. Watch what happens. Iterate. Stay close enough to keep things running — without becoming a dependency.
Sectors
We work where the work is interesting.
That's tended to mean a mix of growing businesses, public-sector teams and enterprise. Past clients include DHL, Sainsbury's, the Department for Education, Freshfields and Reed.
Growing businesses
Where ops is straining at the seams and a few well-placed systems can change the maths.
Public sector
Engineering for organisations where outcomes matter and the constraints are real.
Enterprise
Focused engagements inside large organisations — moving fast within their gravity.
Startups
Founders who need a senior team to take a product end-to-end, not just contractors.
Legal & professional services
Internal tools, automation and integration in regulated, detail-heavy environments.
Our own ventures
Cloak is the current example — the same craft, applied to a problem we cared about.
Start a conversation
Not sure which thread fits?
Tell us what you're trying to do. We'll tell you which of these — if any — is the right entry point, and how we'd approach it.